On Blade's Edge
by phoenixreal
Summary: AU: Modern Kenpachi Zaraki is part of the Shinigami, an organization trying to bring down Aizen and the Espada Organization. During an undercover mission to dismantle the Espada's human trafficking section, he finds himself with a young man who may be the key to ending the violence, but after seven years of captivity and who knows what else, can he? Warning inside.
1. Undercover Work

**On Blade's Edge**

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_A/N: Yes, the plot bunny attacked me in my sleep. Stupid plot bunnies._

_WARNINGS: Graphic depictions of violence, torture, and non-con (past). Lemony goodness between Ichigo/Kenpachi, leave if this isn't your cup of tea._

_Don't own Bleach, don't make money._

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**Chapter One**

_Undercover Work_

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He hated undercover work. It was, without a doubt, the thing he hated the most. Unfortunately, he was uniquely able to do undercover work of the long term sort. Most people weren't his size and most people weren't as capable of taking care of themselves as he was. At a hulking six foot seven in height, and the fighting skills to go with it, he made a good undercover agent. Of course, with his unique visage, he was not suited to posing as multiple figures. No, he had one persona that had become integrated in the places it was needed. Ken Trent. Simple name, to go with a not so simple appearance. Ken was a beast. And he was, at the current time, the only member of the government agency known as the Shinigami to infiltrate the ranks of the Espada organization. No one else had survived initiation.

The Espada were into everything. This agent, Kenpachi Zaraki of the Shinigami Agency, was currently trying to bust wide their human trafficking section. Under the purview of Nnoitra Gilga, a man that was actually taller than Zaraki by a couple inches but half his width, the human trafficking run by the Espada was perhaps the most prolific in all of the country. So here he was, being led down into the underground section of the holding cells where they kept the 'merchandise'. There was a transponder embedded into a false molar on the left side of his jaw. Once he confirmed that the location was hot, he'd activated it, and his team would bust the entire place wide open. No one else had been able to get in this deep, and it had taken Zaraki almost three long years to do it. Tonight was the culmination of those three years, then he would get to go back home and take care of his little sister himself instead of leaving her with his aunt.

The place was crawling with gun toting guards, most with M16s he noted, as he descended down the stairs into the darkness below. He knew what to expect, after all, they'd raided empty buildings after they'd cleared out before. He'd been to a few under heavy disguise to keep his identity as one of the Shinigami a secret from prying eyes. Of course, he'd also seen the scene photos for all of them. But it still didn't prepare him. Zaraki wasn't the most sentimental of men, as a matter of fact, he preferred to beat the shit out of someone than talk, but there were certain things that were wrong on a primal level. And this…this was one of them.

The smell hit him first, a mixture of a metallic tang and hospital grade cleansers. That smell alone was enough to rock most people on their heels. The sounds were next, and only his extremely sharp senses picked up the sounds in the otherwise quiet room. The slight rattle of chains, the sniffing and hiccupping of those trying desperately not to weep, and the rapid breathing associated with the opening of the door were louder than he would have liked. He clenched his jaw so tight that he heard the teeth scrape together, the ball in his tongue piercing rolling against the back of his teeth with a sharp click. If it weren't for the goddamned piercing he'd gotten five months ago with this tall freaky bastard he wouldn't be here now. He'd done a lot in this line of duty, he'd done a lot to get here, moving through a meat market full of half starved, abused people set to be sold off to the highest bidder. This is what he'd been working toward.

Three fucking years it had taken to get to this place. Three years of sacrifice and hard work, three years of being "busted" by the cops for show, three years of being a heavy for smaller gangs and beating the crap out of kids who didn't deserve it. Three long fucking years of seeing his little sister once a week if he was lucky, less if he wasn't. Three years for someone of his unique ability and look to get noticed by Aizen. It was a testament to how goddamned picky he was about the people in the highest levels of power in his organization.

"Well, Ken-chan, so here we are, your job is discipline among the product. Anyone gets out of line, ya put 'em back. Don't care how ya do it. And feel free to sample the product, anytime you want, all the boys do," Nnoitra said with a wink. "The only ones you can't touch are the ones marked V. Those are the high dollar bitches who've never been fucked, so don't touch them or I'll have ya fuckin' balls, man. We only have three, all girls right now. We had a couple boys…" He grinned. "Ah but I can't resist 'em, 'sides, the demand for virgins is for the females anyway."

Zaraki felt his stomach turn. So far, they'd been unable to recover anyone alive from the Espada's ring. And the ones they had found dead were in sorry shape. Nnoitra was known as a sadistic pervert, and took out his twisted desires on any of the people that displeased them enough to be thrown aside. And he was twisted in some of the worst ways from what he'd found since getting into the organization. He winced at the cages that lined the room, each one had two to three males or females chained to cots inside. All were nearly naked, and most of them looked like they'd been beaten at least once or twice recently. Nnoitra opened a door to an office and led him into the room and had him sit down.

"Now, we are a careful organization. Everything on my part is here," he said, indicating a laptop on the table. "If there is a raid while you're down here, open it and when it asks for a password, you put in 'raid' and it deletes everything on the hard drive and sets off an explosive charge inside the case, rendering the thing useless. Now, the password to get in safely is 'suckmycock' all one word. I know, not original, but you know. They told me to make a password, and I told them to suck my cock, and well, that became the password. So anyway, any questions?"

Zaraki shook his head. "Nah, I got this shit. You leaving?"

Nnoitra smiled and nodded. "Yeah, got a meet up with a bastard wanting seven boytoys. I gotta make sure the shit is legit, because I've had some of our product dead because of bastards who want to pull shit on us. Anyway, just chill in here. I'll send in a favorite flavor to keep ya company. Ya like boys or girls or do ya care?"

Zaraki felt his stomach churn again. "Don't matter man, a hole is a hole, right?"

Nnoitra grinned broader and Zaraki wanted to break his face so much right that moment. "You are a man after my fuckin' heart, Ken-chan. Definitely send you my boy, then. He's a sweet one, all tears and whimpers. My favorite kind. Can't sell him, so I get to play with him instead."

Zaraki sat down and opened the laptop, typing in the password and looking it over with a grin. This was exactly what they were looking for. He looked up as one of the guards armed with an AK opened the door and threw in a young man who fell to floor in a heap. Zaraki couldn't see much of him except he had a glaring bright head of orange hair.

"Boss said to drop off his boy. Here ya go. Watch it, he's got a tendency to try and run when yer distracted. Nnoitra already had to whip him twice this week. But he's a good little whore either way," the man said, shutting the door and Zaraki groaned.

He supposed it was better than some screaming female. He couldn't stand that crap on his best days. He looked over the desk to see he was an incredibly thin young man, not quite a boy, but not quite a man. His best guess he was maybe nineteen or twenty. He was breathing heavily, and was simply lying on his side where he'd been dropped. He, like the rest of the 'merchandise', was wearing a dirty looking makeshift set of clothes. The t-shirt looked like an old undershirt for someone twice his size, and he was wearing something that looked like a beige skirt or kilt looking thing. His eyes were closed tightly and he was breathing carefully, Zaraki realized and frowned. He was obviously in pain of some sort and trying very hard not to show it.

"Hey, what's your name?" he said finally, seeing the shudder that went through him at the sound of his voice.

The boy cracked his eyes open slowly and then just stared at him where he leaned across the desk for a long moment before he swallowed hard and Zaraki could see the trembling in his arms and hands become more pronounced. He sighed. Well, of course he would be scared of him. He wasn't as tall as Nnoitra, but he was a damn sight bigger than him. And obviously he wasn't supposed to talk because he was almost frozen at the mere mention of telling him anything.

Zaraki shook his head and shut the laptop and popped the cap off the false tooth with his tongue and activated the transponder. Within fifteen, the place would be swarming with agents. But until then, he had to do something with the one they dropped in here with him. He couldn't very well send him back out there to his cage, especially not if he was injured like he thought. He sighed again. This was not what he was trained to do; this was his team's department, not his.

"Come here," he said, pushing away from the desk and motioning for him to come over to him.

He looked up and blinked big brown eyes at him and maneuvered to his hands and knees and crawled over to him and sat back on his heels, hands in his lap, and staring at the floor with is head bowed. Both wrists and ankles were adorned with thick leather cuffs with rings set in them, and there was a similar thick leather collar around his neck. Zaraki cringed because he could already see that all the restraints were too tight on him because the flesh at the edges was puffed and red.

Zaraki had seen it many times. The look of someone who'd given up on ever getting away, who'd had the idea of escape beaten out of them. Most of the "merchandise" out in the larger room had that same look. And he wasn't even sure how long this one had been here. Long enough to become Nnoitra's favorite. He wondered what he meant by the statement that he couldn't sell him. He knew that the bastard had one or two that he preferred that never came to be sold off. Unfortunately, Zaraki quickly found that a lot of the dead they'd recovered had been Nnoitra's playthings. Most of them had died due to consistent abuse that they'd found dead. And looking at the people in these cages, he understood why.

Nnoitra's "playthings" though were special, he'd found out in the last week. They were the ones that were mutilated and tortured. He'd come to find out that the sadistic bastard took a great deal of pleasure in disposing of the "unsalable" merchandise. The amounted to a great deal of sadistic shit when he got them in his backroom that even to Zaraki looked more like a torture chamber.

There was a knock and Zaraki saw the flinch in the boy kneeling before him. He looked up. "What?"

"Um, Mr. Trent, there's been an increase in activity in the airspace around this location. Should we start transfer protocols?" he said, looking between him and the orange haired boy on the floor near his knees. "Sorry to interrupt…"

"Whatever, don't move anyone yet, but go ahead and send men to the perimeter, keep minimal guards inside, and lock down between here and the upstairs. Probably nothing, don't want my first night on the job to be a cock up because of paranoia," Zaraki said. "Now, leave me the fuck alone unless they're knocking on the fuckin' door."

The guard grinned and nodded. "Yes, sir. Enjoy yourself, sir."

The door closed and Zaraki rubbed his temples. "God damn this is fucked up shit," he muttered.

He looked down at the boy. He was definitely an attractive boy, frail and fragile as he looked at the moment. He had long sinewy limbs, and probably could fight pretty well based on the size of his muscles in his arms and legs. Now that he was closer, he could see the varying degrees of bruises on his arms and legs, and the obvious marks of a whip on the backs of his calves. Zaraki leaned forward and reached up and pulled his face upward. The oragnette gasped at the touch and his eyes were wild when he locked onto Zaraki's one dark eye. There was a spark in those eyes though, hidden deep within the depths. Zaraki smiled to himself and nodded. He wasn't dead inside yet, he thought. Not like some of the ones they'd recovered from other human trafficking rings that never recovered from the abuses they'd suffered.

Nnoitra had a pain fetish, so he had piercings all the fuck over him as well as tattoos. He saw that he had taken his fetish of inflicting pain out on this boy. He had several facial piercings. There was one in each cheek set with a silver captured ball ring in each. Both sides of his nose had small silver studs in them, and his eyebrows each had a row of what looked like ten or more rings going across them on each side. His lower lip and upper lip were both pierced in the middle and on each side with rather thick looking rings, and Zaraki could assume that they were more than cosmetic in function. Both ears were a mess to be honest. There was nothing artistic or attractive about the piercings. It simply looked like Nnoitra had decided to see how many times he could put metal through his ears. Long thin bars ran through the lobe in several places and he had a pair of gauged rings in either lobe, neither very large, but both were incredibly red, and more than one piercing looked infected. He saw several places in his ear and face where it looked like something had been ripped out. He couldn't see anything further and didn't have time to investigate what other chunks of metal the fucker had stuck in the kid.

"Listen to me, you are gonna do whatever the fuck I say, and you're going to do it when I say it, okay?" he said sternly.

He nodded almost unperceptively and swallowed. Zaraki could feel the muscles of his throat work under his finger where it was hooked under his jawbone. "First thing, I'm not gonna hurt you, provided you do what I say. Second thing, no matter what happens in the next couple hours, do not leave my side, got it?"

Again, a slight nod and his lip quivered. "I know you're frightened, but you are gonna have to trust me here, okay? You do that and you'll be okay."

He just stared at him for a long moment and Zaraki sighed and let go of his chin, letting him go back to staring at the floor. He wondered how long it would take before he or the rest of them would come around after this hell they'd lived in? There was a loud booming sound a few minutes later and Zaraki grinned. He picked up the laptop and dropped it into a bag beside the desk and looked around for anything else useful. He grabbed a few files that were out and then looked down to see that the boy was watching him from under hooded eyes.

"Stand up," Zaraki said with a curt nod.

He stood up slowly, using the desk to get to his feet but immediately fell to his knees again with a grimace. Zaraki frowned and reached down to pull his legs out from under him and realized that the ankle on the right was badly twisted and purplish. Well, that would complicate matters, but not too much. He was more than capable of carrying such a waifish boy. He sighed and secured the bag on his back and swept him up into his arms quickly, feeling him tremble violently under his touch.

"Come on, look, we're leaving, okay?" he said with a nod and he seemed to relax a bit in his grip, or at least he quit fighting his hold.

The door banged open. "Sir! We're being raided! Should we set the charges on the product room?"

Zaraki frowned at the guard and shook his head. "Nah," he said, and struck out with his right foot, slamming the guard across the hallway with a sick crack. He slid down the wall leaving a bloody trail behind him. He realized the boy in his arms had held onto him even tighter, fingernails digging into his arm and back. Zaraki headed down into the room with the cages and looked around inside them for a moment. Every cage had a charge set at the top of it. Dammit. He had to make sure no one set them off or they'd have a huge body count on their hands. He took off at a jog toward the door between the product basement and the upstairs and heard gunfire. He opened the door and saw three guards standing at the doorway.

"Sir!" the first said. "We were waiting for you before we set the charges. Protocol seven!" he called, but it was the last thing he did. Zaraki had shifted the boy he was holding to one hand and sliced the throat of the two guards in front of him with one deft stroke of a knife he'd drawn from his waist. The third one stared and gaped but he didn't have long before he was gasping for breath and falling to the floor. He saw the controls beside the door and nodded. Nothing had been activated. There was yelling and he looked up to see a familiar face.

"Captain!" shouted the dark haired man as he ran toward him. "You did it, captain, did we get them all?" He flicked his black hair over his shoulder and stroked at the feathered barrette over his temple.

"Nnoitra's gone, but I've taken out four guards. Get someone down and get them out, all the cages are set with charges. I'm afraid there may be remote detonation; once Nnoitra finds out he's been raided he could try and blow the place, so get everyone out as fast as possible and clear of the place. They're all in rough shape, most of them have had the shit beat out of them, and Nnoitra said that everyone was free to 'sample the merchandise', so I have no idea how bad. You got Ikkaku with you?" he said, looking behind him and seeing the bald headed man running up.

"Yeah, he was clearing up a few stragglers. Seems my services are needed immediately, Ikkaku, love, go get the bomb squad, and get the rest of the team to meet us at the hospital in our wing," the dark haired man said with a smile.

"Yumi, be careful, they said there's a lot of explosives…" Ikkaku said with a frown, glancing at the controls beside the doorway.

He waved. "Sweetie, when am I not?"

He turned and flounced down the steps behind Zaraki. "Is Unohana out front?" he said to Ikkaku.

"She is; this one in need of immediate?" he said, looking over the body Zaraki had clutched to him. He'd curled into Zaraki and buried his face into his chest, and was panting hard by this point.

"I think so, sounds like he has trouble breathing and his ankle's fucked," Zaraki said moving to walk toward the entrance. Ikkaku came along with him to watch his back in case they missed anyone.

"Where'd he come from, boss?" Ikkaku asked.

"Nnoitra wanted to 'entertain' me, so he had them bring me his current 'boy' as he called it," Zaraki said, unable to keep the venom out of his voice. "I don't know, said he couldn't sell him so he got to play with him instead. You should see his fucking face, if Nnoitra didn't already have enough piercings to set off a metal detector I'd want to give him more. I wish that fucker was still here, I'd gladly rip his throat out with my bare fuckin' hands. Bastard…all those fuckin' bodies…"

Ikkaku frowned. "What do you mean?"

Zaraki sighed as they headed toward the flashing lights outside. He was trying not to move too fast in case the boy had broken ribs that were pressing into his lungs. "They were Nnoitra's 'flavors', at least the ones in the worst shape. Called them 'unsalable' merchandise, so he had to 'dispose' of them. I guess he breaks them and throws them away when he's done, the fucking bastard, I ever get to have my chance, I'm gonna break his fuckin' neck."

By this point they'd reached a large bus that was actually a mobile medical unit. Ikkaku knocked on the door and it was opened by the long haired woman that scared the pants off everyone in the unit. She was by far scarier than Kenpachi Zaraki.

"Zaraki," she said, stepping back and letting him in. Zaraki went in and moved toward the back where the beds were set up.

"Can you check him out? Might have some ribs. He's breathing bad," he said.

"Of course, set him down here," she said and Zaraki found the boy didn't want to let go of him. He frowned.

"Hey, come on, let me put ya down, she's fine, trust me, okay?" he said, staring down at the top of his orange head. He didn't say anything only gripped him tighter. "Um, yeah, Retsu?" he said, looking up at the dark haired woman.

"Zaraki, sit down yourself, I'll check him over like this," she said. "If he's got broken ribs, I don't want you to try and force him to let go, you might hurt him. You don't know your own strength sometimes, Keni."

Zaraki nodded and sat on the bed which groaned under the weight. Zaraki was not a light man. He set about trying to shift the body in his lap a bit and managed to get him somewhat seated, if still with his face hidden in his chest. Zaraki looked up and saw Ikkaku and Yumichika returning looking tired already.

"Boss, we got everyone out, but there's a few who are gonna need some medical attention, nothing immediate, so if you want to ride with the med bus back to the hospital, we can take care of them there…" Yumichika said, glancing at the boy clinging to Zaraki. "It seems you're not going anywhere."

Zaraki looked down, adjusting his grip. "So it seems, don't get it. I mean, I'm a fucking beast, gotta be nastier lookin' than anyone he's seen before, what the hell he's stuck to me for I don't know…"

Yumichika rolled his eyes expressively. "You're so dense, Captain. You don't remember any of the training we went through? You were thinking about beating up people instead of how to deal with victims, weren't you?"

Zaraki snorted. "Get the fuck out and ride with the others to the hospital. Yumi, take an inventory, try and get names and see if we can get locations and try to find families for these people."

"Got it, boss," Yumichika said with a shrug and grabbed Ikkaku by the hand and drug him out.

"I swear, those two…" Zaraki mumbled. "I see they finally got together while I was gone," he said to Unohana as she got ready to draw blood from the boy.

She smiled. "Yes, it seems that Ikkaku came to terms with the fact he loves him. He swears he's not gay, he's just in love with Yumichika. I told him that is quite possible."

Zaraki snorted. "I don't get why everyone's so hung up on gay, straight or whatever. You get with someone you want to get with, what does it matter if they got a cock or a pussy?"

Unohana smiled. "Not many people think that way, Keni. Now, let's see if we can't figure out what's going on here," she said, and tugged experimentally on the boy's shirt. He still didn't look up from where he'd hidden his face.

"Okay, I'm going to take this off you, okay?" she said gently, grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting the t-shirt material away from his back. She frowned deeply at the lashes across his back where he'd been whipped recently and some strange puncture looking marks in the flesh of his back. "Can you tell me your name?" she asked, taking an antiseptic and beginning to clean the wounds. He was still silent and winced as she cleaned the bright red rips in his skin.

She then bandaged them after applying an ointment to them and then started listening to his lungs. She nodded. "Not punctured, but I'm guessing his ribs might be fractured, bruised at the best. I'll tape his ankle until we can get back to the hospital," she said, moving around and grabbing the tape to do that. "I really need you to lie down," she told him. He shook his head into Zaraki's shoulder. She sighed and looked up at Zaraki. "I'm going to take some blood now," she said and tied off his arm and took samples. Then she quickly administered a sedative and they watched as he slumped into unconsciousness, his grip finally releasing Zaraki. The bigger man was sure he was going to have bruises from his fingers, which in itself was an accomplishment.

He laid him out on his back finally as Unohana draped a sheet over him, tossing the remains of the dirty skirt to the side as she stripped it. "I think you should stay nearby when he wakes, Keni," she said, beginning a more thorough exam. "He seems to have attached you to semblance of safety. Most likely you're the first person to help him in a long time."

Zaraki was too tired to argue as he sat down beside the exam table. "What can you tell?"

She shifted the sheet and went over his wounds. She unbuckled the collar and cuffs and winced at the deep red lines left in the flesh in all places. She took a glance over the piercings in his face and ears then pulled down the sheet to go over the rest of his body. In a few minutes she covered him back up, leaving most the exam for the hospital. She wasn't touching the piercings on a moving bus.

"He's in his early twenties, definitely been held for a while, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a couple years at least. Severe malnutrition, dehydration, long term abuse, physical and sexual. You said he was Nnoitra's…ah…boy? We've known from your reports and the other reports he tended to favor a male or two from among the victims. They were the ones that we found afterward, weren't they?"

Zaraki nodded. "He said he was his 'boy'. Don't know for how long."

"Well, even if his abuse by Nnoitra was recent, it wasn't the only abuse he received, if I don't miss my guess. He's currently got two fractured ribs and some severe bruising on his back and pelvis. He may have a fractured pelvic bone, I'll have to do the x-rays to be sure of it. I know we've found other bodies that he's pierced repeatedly like this, but most of them weren't this severe. He's got piercings in almost every place possible, and none of them look to have been done properly or professionally. How did he act?" she said, covering him up once more and putting a pillow under his head.

"Defeated," he said, looking up. "Like he had no real reason to try anymore. Stared at the floor. Started shaking at my voice. That's why I was surprised he didn't want to let go of me."

Unohana patted his back. "You rescued him. And you're a huge man, the kind he's used being hurt by, and you helped him instead of hurt him. Like it or not, you're going to have to be involved with this one. You can't abandon him now that he's gained an attachment to you."

Zaraki looked over at him, face slack with sleep and thought that he couldn't have abandoned him even if he hadn't attached to him. There was something there, something in that fragile body that he wanted to see. There was a spark in his eyes, just a dull one, but it was there, a sign of a person that hadn't given in or given up entirely. If he could relight that spark…he wondered what he would find?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"What the fuck do ya mean, we were raided?" Nnoitra almost screamed into the phone. "That safehouse had _all_ our inventory. How could we be raided and have no notice?"

"Sir, we're not sure, but from the footage from the cameras, Trent sent guards to the perimeter, as he should, and locked down the interior. After that the cameras go out, and all we know is everything is gone, including Trent. No bodies, no trace, the place is cleaned out. It doesn't look like the charges were set off, though."

Nnoitra frowned and took a steadying breath. "But he's gone too? My boy?"

There was a long pause. "Um, yes sir, everyone…"

"Listen to me you fucking ignorant fucks, you best find out what the goddamned hell happened and find my boy pretty damn quickly. He's worth a helluva lot more than just a fucktoy, goddammit, he's fuckin' leverage! I _have _to have that orange haired brat back or I'll fuckin' lose my entire hold over his fuckin' father and uncle! Now, find the fucker that took him, and bring me his goddamned heart on a platter, bonus points if you bring his eyes too, and bring me my fuckin' boy in one piece."

He slammed the cell down on the counter hard enough to crack the screen. He didn't care; it was a burn phone anyway. He'd ditch it before the night was done. "Nnoi, what's wrong?" came Zommari's voice from the next room.

"Fucking raided my safe-house, and my entire inventory is gone," he groused.

"And the kid?" came Ulquiorra's voice as he stood next to the taller dark skinned man, making quite the contrast with his perfectly white skin and short stature.

"Gone too. Fuck! If Aizen finds out I've fuckin' lost the kid, I'm done," he said, running a hand over his black hair and groaning.

Grimmjow leaned against the doorframe then. "Got past all my toys? Damn. Whoever they are, they're good to get through all my explosives without blowing the place to kingdom come."

Nnoitra pushed past him into the next room and flopped into his seat at the poker table. Starrk was lazily shuffling the cards and watching everything. Barragan was sipping at his drink slowly and watching with two of his madams, Menoly and Cirucci, fawning over him.

The Espada were ten in number. And each one ran a branch of the organization. Starrk handled guns, Barragan prostitution, Nnoitra human trafficking, Grimmjow explosives, and Zommari drugs. Ulquiorra handled enforcement. Missing were Tier who handled the business aspect and investments, Yammy, who ran underground fighting, Szayel who manufactured synthetic drugs, and A who dealt with gambling. Everyone called him A because his name was unpronounceable by all but Aizen. He didn't care. As long as he got his money he was happy.

"So what are ya gonna do?" Grimmjow asked, resuming his seat. He was currently winning by quite a bit.

"Fuck if I know," he muttered. "Deal with it tomorrow. Ante up, bastards," he said, dropping his chips into the center of the table.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ikkaku said as he entered the hospital room where Zaraki sat at a desk filling out paperwork. He looked up.

"Kid's name. And you're not gonna believe this shit."

Zaraki took the file and opened it and blinked. "You're fuckin kidding me."

Ikkaku shook his head. "We're under strict orders from the Old man himself to make sure he's got at least two of us on him at all times, and he wants you to stay on point with him. He's already preparing a safe house for you to take him immediately."

Zaraki leaned back, his head thumping into the wall. "So, I fuckin' got handed the son of one of the only men to ever turn evidence against Sosuke Aizen, who up and disappeared seven years ago without a trace along with his brother in law, who was Aizen's partner and the only person who knows what the man looks like and how to bring him down."

"You realize this means that the reason they disappeared was probably because Aizen had his son?" Ikkaku said, looking at the boy who was still sedated.

"Shit, you're right. Seven years? With that sick fuck?" Zaraki said with a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. "Old man say if I can have Yachiru come join us?"

Ikkaku nodded. "Already sent for her. She's going to meet us when we get there. She's beside herself to see her big brother."

Zaraki sighed. "Be good to see the brat. Maybe she can help me with this one, too damn old to deal with this," he muttered.

"Zaraki, you aren't that old. You turned twenty six this year," came Unohana's voice from the doorway.

"Well I fuckin' feel like ninety after this goddamned case," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I would hope so," said another voice. He looked up to see someone that he really hadn't wanted to see today of all days. "You've been three years working it; at least it yielded some fruit, if not the one we were hoping for."

Zaraki sighed and looked up. "Byakuya," he said to the stoic man. "I did what I could. I had the opportunity to rescue the vics so I took it. I just wish I knew what the hell was going on with this kid."

"He's not so much a 'kid' anymore, maybe when he was kidnapped seven years ago, but you realize he's twenty two now," the dark haired man said, moving over toward where he lay. "He's smaller than normal, obviously from lack of nutrition. He's what, five eight?"

"Five nine," Unohana said, looking over his chart. "But he's far underweight for his age. And we honestly do not know what he's gone through other than what we see on the surface; he hasn't said a word since Zaraki came into contact with him."

Byakuya sighed. "Alright, prepare the transport, perhaps you should leave him sedated until we get him to the safe house. I really don't want him flipping out on the drivers. Zaraki, your sister is already installed at the safehouse and decorating her room. There are four bedrooms, and we'll have a rotating agent stay with you as backup."

With that Byakuya turned and left. Zaraki growled. "I hate that man."

"Yes, Zaraki, you always have. Now, anything I should know about you? Been six months since you went in deep undercover this time. Any new injuries?" Unohana asked, pulling out a clipboard.

"Yeah, got a few more for ya, and this pretty," he said sticking out his tongue. She shook her head. He grinned at her and detailed all his injuries as they came and transported the unconscious boy to the new house. He went along. Great. What was supposed to be a simple thing had turned into something horribly complex.

As soon as he entered the windowless room he was leaped upon by a pink haired whirlwind. "Oh my god, I thought you were never coming back, Keni!" she squealed.

"Ah, come on, I always come back. Now, did they tell you why we were here?" he asked the fifteen year old spitfire that he'd raised since she was two.

He may have been thirteen at the time, but without parents, he'd had no choice. Taking care of Yachiru is why he felt so old some days. At thirteen he'd started with the gangs, making money hand over fist as an enforcer because at thirteen he could take on just about anyone in a fight. He was already six foot tall at that point. But he'd taken care of his sister. And when the Old Man came to him and offered him legal work, he'd taken that at sixteen. And since then, he'd done a lot of things, both legal and illegal in the service of the shinigami. He didn't care, as long as Yachiru was taken care of, and as long as his "aunt" was fine, he was happy. He called her his aunt, but she wasn't really related to them. Isane was a dear friend who wasn't much older than he was but who had helped them out a lot along the years and adored taking care of Yachiru when Zaraki was gone for a while. It helped that her little brother was about Yachiru's age.

"Yeah, you gotta protect the guy you brought out," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, you got it brat. He's a little messed up, okay, so you gotta be nice to him, okay? Help him feel better if you can," he said with a nod. "And he's a little clingy on me, since I got him out, so don't get jealous."

"That's okay Keni. As long as you're okay with it, I don't care. I got plenty to do. So why's he asleep? They brought him in on a bed a while ago," she said, looking toward the door where he had been placed.

"He's a little nervous and scared, so we wanted to keep him asleep for the trip. But he's gonna be waking up soon, they took him off the medicine to make him sleep, so we should go in there and be there when he wakes up so he's not too scared and alone," he said with a nod toward the room.

Yachiru nodded and ran off and opened the door, to be followed by Zaraki who sat down in the chair beside the bed. It was comfortably furnished, at least, if windowless. These places were always strange, a house built inside a warehouse, basically. Windowless and locked down tighter than a drum. Finally, he seemed to be coming around. Zaraki leaned over, brushing his own spiky black hair out of his face. Yachiru was perched at the foot of the bed and waited. It looked like they'd removed all the piercings from his ears and face from what he could tell, at least for the time being. He was assuming they'd ask him if he wanted to keep any of them. For all Zaraki knew, he'd wanted the piercings.

His waking wasn't a subtle thing. One moment he was asleep the next he was wide awake and clutching at the sheets on the bed and looking around frantically to see where he was.

"Hey, settle down," Zaraki said and he turned and fixed his wild brown eyes on him and then he was scrambling off the bed and into the chair with Zaraki. Zaraki frowned and let himself be clutched. He put a hand on his back, now clad in a set of blue pajamas and let him pant harshly against him. "Okay, okay, you're fine, you're fine. It's okay, Ichigo."

As soon as he said his name, he sat back and stared at him with wide eyes again, and Zaraki realized tears were gathering at the corners of them quickly. Oh, shit, he thought, what'd he do wrong? He stared for a minute and then tipped his head to the side and whispered, "Ich…Ichi…go…" and Zaraki realized he probably hadn't heard his name in years. "I…Ichi…go…" he said, his breath heaving.

"Oh god," Zaraki said softly. "You haven't been called by your name since they took you, have you?"

His tears spilled over and he took a shuddering breath and buried his face in his shirt again. Zaraki felt the spreading wetness and just rubbed his back slowly and Yachiru watched, her face twisted into a look of sorrow and confusion.

"He was kidnapped seven years ago," Zaraki explained. "He would have been your age. They've had him ever since…"

Finally, he sat back and rubbed his eyes but didn't move to get away from Zaraki at all; he sat there, on his lap staring at the wet blotches on his shirt and then touched them gently. Zaraki kept his hands on his hips to keep him from sliding backward onto the floor. He looked up suddenly. "Sorry," he said, his voice hoarse and obviously not having been used often. "Sorry…sorry…" he muttered, shaking his head. "Sorry sorry…"

Zaraki sighed and moved one hand to his head to stop him from shaking his head. "Hey, stop, okay, you're free now. We got you out and we're in a safe house, safe from them, and no one here will hurt you, okay?"

He stared at Zaraki for a long time. "Now, this is your bed, and your room, and no one can come in here without your say so, okay? Of course, unless you are hurt or sick, or something. And you can do whatever you want as long as you stay in here because we don't want them to take you back."

He shuddered at the words and shook his head suddenly. Zaraki nodded. "Nnoitra isn't going to come here. He's not going to get to you. He doesn't know where you are."

Ichigo nodded slowly but then realized that there was someone else in the room and he clenched his fists into Zaraki's shirt and pulled himself against him. "Ichigo, this is Yachiru, my little sister," he said. "I take care of her, have for a long time, thirteen years, now," he said. "She's going to be here with us."

He swallowed and looked between them before he closed his eyes and ducked his head into Zaraki's shirt again. Zaraki sighed. "This is a safe place for you?" he asked gently, trying to keep the natural growl out of his voice. "Okay, safe place, when you need it," he said, recalling his various training meetings on dealing with victims of human trafficking rings. He should know it by now, he'd only busted three so far. But he was never one on one with the victims; that was Yumichika's part. He was the trained rape/trauma counselor.

"Listen, seven years is a long time, and we're going to have to know what happened during that time," he said finally.

He hated to bring it up. They would have to know; otherwise they could never deal with what he'd gone through. All they knew was that seven years ago, the vibrant and popular teenage boy named Ichigo Kurosaki had disappeared after his sister's soccer game. His friends reported that a man drug him into a black windowless van without plates. He fought him, but he had a syringe and the fight went out of him immediately. Since that day, the boy hadn't been seen. Less than a week afterward, Isshin Kurosaki, his twin sisters Karin and Yuzu, and his uncle Kisuke Urahara disappeared. Kurosaki and Urahara had been about to turn evidence on Sosuke Aizen, head of the Espada organization, a then small cartel that ran every kind of illegal enterprise that existed. The case had fallen apart, and since then, Aizen had been untouchable, as had all ten of his Espada that ran the cartel. The strike at Nnoitra's human trafficking branch had been purposeful to put a dent on their income flow. The human trafficking brought in more money than all the other branches combined, and if they could stop it, even for a short time, the other branches would suffer.

Now, though, the Shinigami had Isshin's son. So the question was, where were the Kurosakis and how could they get the word to them that they had rescued his son? And after seven years of captivity and who knew what kind of torture and conditioning, would he ever get his son back?


	2. Forgetting to Remember

**On Blade's Edge**

* * *

_A/N: WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS TRIGGERING.  
This chapter contains a non-con scene and forced bondage and body modification (piercing). Chapter one has gotten some changes too._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

_Forgetting to Remember_

* * *

The first night was rough to say the least. Zaraki ended up sleeping sitting up in the chair beside the boy's bed. There wasn't much else to be done about it; he simply wouldn't let him leave. He could have forced him to let go, but Retsu had warned him that his ribs needed to heal, and the way he clutched him, there was no safe way to do it. So he'd fallen asleep there, with the blue pajama clad kid sitting in his lap and head buried in his shoulder. What he couldn't imagine was the horrors that played out in his mind that night.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

It was sunny, brilliantly bright, actually. Ichigo stood with his friends Tatsuki, Inoue, Uryuu and Sado. Some of their other friends hadn't been able to come to the big soccer game. It was the finals, and if his sister's team won, they'd take the area championship. He clapped and cheered for her and glanced now and then over to the stands nearby where his idiot father and eccentric uncle sat with his other sister, Yuzu. It was summer, and in a couple weeks, he'd turn sixteen. All in all, it was a great day.

"Karin, don't let them get past you like that!" he yelled through the chain link fence as a pass got past his sister. She turned and glared at him and he shrugged at her.

Tatsuki clapped him on the back. "She's gotten good, Ichigo."

"I know!" he said and turned to smile at his friends.

"So is that crazy uncle of yours gonna be staying with you now?" Tatsuki asked, sipping her can of juice and glancing at the odd man in the green and white bucket striped hat.

Ichigo shook his head. "Yeah, looks that way. Never knew that my mom had such a nutter for a brother," he said shaking his hands and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"He seems nice, Kurosaki-kun," Inoue said with a blush across her face. Ichigo nodded and shifted a bit uncomfortably. Why did she always do that around him?

He shrugged. "I mean, he's nice, but he's crazy, man, I mean, I was up getting a snack last night and he was in the kitchen experimenting on rice balls. No idea. Just kind of strange. And I still don't know why he turned up all of a sudden…"

Uryuu piped up. "Maybe he's on the run from someone," he said with a shrug."

Ichigo shook his head. "No idea. Oh well, I'm going to get a juice, anyone want one?"

Inoue colored again and smiled shyly. "I'll take one, Kurosaki-kun!" she said quietly.

He nodded and sauntered off toward the juice machine. He didn't notice the dark van that had pulled up in the parking lot behind the set of vending machines he was standing at. There wasn't anything unusual about the two guys standing in line behind him, either, in fact, he barely noticed them. He bent down and grabbed the two cans and that was when he realized something was very wrong.

The first, a tall man with bright blue hair lunged forward and grabbed him around the neck. He started to struggle and managed to pull the guy off and land a blow across his jaw when he flipped around. "The fuck!" he yelled then as something him on the back of the head, making him see stars. Vaguely he heard someone yelling at him and then the other guy, wait where'd he come from? The other guy jammed something into his neck and the world faded to black.

Ichigo came to consciousness slowly, like swimming upward through a pool of thick, sticky glue or something. He swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to move to stretch his limbs, but he couldn't move any of them. His eyes fluttered open and he found himself lying on the ground.

"He's up, boss," came a voice he didn't know.

"Pick him up, let me see him," he heard another man, and he was lifted in a mind whirling trip to somewhat stand on his feet. He stared down and realized he couldn't stand, his ankles were bound to each other with rope, and obviously his wrists were tied behind him as well.

He lifted his head up and found himself staring at a man with brown hair, thin rimmed glasses and a white suit with a red tie. He blinked away the fuzziness and wondered just who the hell it was.

"He looks a bit like his cousin. And his mother. A shame about both of them, you know," the brown haired man said. "I'm Aizen, and you're mine now."

Ichigo frowned and only then realized he was gagged. A heavy cloth was tied around his mouth. His eyes bulged. "Yes, my sweet boy, you belong to me. I've decided that I'm not taking any chances with your father and uncle. They dare to think they can turn on me? No, I have you now. They won't take the chance I'll send you back in pieces. For now, you're going downstairs and spending some time in the cellar. Smile, princess," he said, snapping a picture of the bound boy on his phone.

Ichigo struggled as the blue haired man and his dark skinned companion drug him down a set of stairs and tossed him into a metal cage. He was left there; bound and gagged for long enough that he was sure they'd forgotten he was even there. He was certain he was going to end up pissing himself if someone didn't let him up soon. Eventually, the door up the stairs opened and a freakishly tall and thin man with black hair came down the stairs and grinned at him.

"Hey there baby boy, how are you?" he said, kneeling down in front of the cage. "I'm gonna let you out of those ropes, so roll over here and I'll cut off the ones on your wrists, sweetie."

Ichigo was wary but didn't have much choice, he rolled onto his belly and over onto his side again and scooted his back against the bars. He felt the cool metal of a knife against the flesh on his hands and he stiffened. There was another moment and then the ropes were cut and he was pulling himself to the middle of the cell and yanking the gag out of his mouth.

"Who are you?" he asked, working the stiffness out of his jaw and grimacing as his bladder reminded him that he really needed to relieve it.

"Name's Nnoitra, sugar. And I'm gonna get to take you home soon with me," he said, his grin widening.

Ichigo shook his head and untied his ankles with shaking hands. He scooted back against a low cot that sat along the side. The cell was just long enough front to back to fit the five foot cot. It was about a foot wide, and there was maybe another three feet in width to it. The bars on the top were about five foot high, so even Ichigo who wasn't much over five six at the time would have to bend down in it.

"What do you mean?" he said, eyes wide and looking around. There were other cells down here he realized. Lots of them in fact. All were empty except the one he occupied.

"See, I sell precious merchandise. But you, you're too precious to sell. I specialize in taking care of fragile merchandise like you, sweetie, and I'll take real good care of you," he said, long tongue snaking out and licking his lips.

Ichigo felt a shiver go down his spine. "M-merchandise?" he asked, wincing as the pain in his bladder seemed to spike along with the fear he suddenly felt.

"Don't you have to piss, baby?" Nnoitra asked, walking around the cage and gesturing to the bucket that was set in the corner. "You probably should. Don't want you getting some sort of nasty infection."

Ichigo swallowed. Like he was going to go to the bathroom in front of this perverted bastard. He simply stared at him.

"Okay, but if you piss yourself, you won't get any clean clothes. And we can't have you in pissy clothes, so you'll just have to sit there naked after we take the dirty ones," he said. "Boss doesn't want you getting messed up too bad…yet. Gotta make sure your pop and the fucking uncle goes and disappears properly."

Ichigo's face flushed red and he swallowed, glancing at the bucket. This was so undignified.

He stood up slowly on wobbly feet and moved toward the bucket and then looked up to see that this Nnoitra was staring at him intently. He frowned. "Do you mind?" he asked.

Nnoitra grinned at him. "Nope, go ahead, baby."

Ichigo didn't have much choice. He was going to piss himself if he didn't go soon, and he really didn't want to be stuck without any clothes. He didn't doubt this bastard would take the chance to strip him…and who knows what else he'd do when he did it. She he closed his eyes, trying to imagine he was alone desperately while he relieved himself. He knew he'd never had to piss so bad in his entire life. Finally, he opened his eyes and zipped his pants back up and moved to sit on the cot. Before he could, Nnoitra's long fingered hand shot through the bars and grabbed him by the bicep.

"Enjoy your time alone, baby boy. Once your pop and uncle are off the scene, you're gonna come with me. If you find it embarrassing to piss in front of me, you're in for a surprise. You have no idea the kind of things I'm going to do to you. By the time I'm done, you won't fucking remember your own goddamned name," he said with a hiss then let go and grinned. "Bye bye, baby."

Ichigo rubbed his arm and sat down dully on the cot. Just what the hell did that mean anyway? He bit his lip and shuddered. He sat against the bars and pulled his knees into his chest and waited. A few hours later, a silvery haired man came down and slid a plate of a couple rice balls and a cup of water through the slot at the bottom of the doorway. Ichigo wanted to ignore him, but he was starving. He took it and sat back down, eating slowly and trying to calm his stomach. The strange man didn't say anything, only grinned at him.

He slept through exhaustion and was woken the next morning to the sound of a woman screaming. He jerked awake and sat up and saw they were dragging a young woman, maybe twenty he thought, with short dark hair and bright violet eyes down the stairs. She was tiny, though, and screaming her head off at the blue haired man that was manhandling her. She was bound in the same way he had been but without a gag. He watched as they tossed her in the cell next to him. The blue haired man shook his head and left without even saying anything.

Ichigo looked over to the girl. She was wearing a pair of black slacks and a pink polo shirt with the logo of a local ice cream shop on it. She turned and looked at him. "What's happening?" she asked.

Ichigo shook his head. "I'm not sure, but here, scoot over to the bars, I'll untie you," he said, dropping down to the floor and reaching through the side opposite his cot and undoing her hands. "What's your name?"

"Rukia Kuchiki. You?" she asked, rubbing her wrists then untying her ankles.

"Ichigo Kurosaki. They got me yesterday from my little sister's soccer game. Some guy named Aizen?" he said.

He heard the other person gasp and she turned and fixed her violet eyes on him. "Aizen? You said Aizen?"  
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, something about my dad and my uncle. I'm not sure…" he was interrupted by the banging of the door and his least favorite person currently carrying two trays with him. He was whistling and slid a tray under each door.

"Hi there, babies," he said with a grin and crossed his arms and appraised them.

"Nnoitra Gilga," Rukia hissed and stood up against the bars and glared at him.

"Oh, little sister knows things, does she?" he said with a grin. "Don't worry that pretty little head, sugar. I'm not interested in you. I've chosen my little boy already," he said and glared at Ichigo through the bars. Ichigo swallowed and saw the look the short girl next to him shot his direction.

"Nnoitra, you sick…sick…man!" she said. "What does Aizen want with us?"

"Well, you, sweetheart, have a nosy fucking brother. And he's got the worst luck to be the nephew of Kisuke Urahara," he said with a snarl.

Rukia's eyes went wide. "What? You're Urahara's nephew?" she gasped at Ichigo.

Ichigo looked between them. "What does that crazy bastard have to do with this?" he asked.

"You don't know?" Rukia asked, moving to stand against the bars on his side of her cell. "You don't know who he is and who Aizen is?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I don't know what's going on!"

Rukia sighed. "Aizen's built a gang, right under his partner's nose, and his partner was Kisuke Urahara. Urahara is a scientist, and Aizen wanted him to make designer drugs. He refused, saying that they got into business together to help people. Urahara had no idea what Aizen was doing while he was locked up in his lab with his experiments. He was using Urahara's money, experiments and research to fund his organization…"

"And the boss wants to make sure he doesn't keep his promise to turn over on him to her big brother," Nnoitra said, coming to stand in front of Ichigo's cell again, staring at him in that disconcerting way again.

"Leave him alone, Nnoitra, he's a kid!" Rukia yelled, her face reddening in anger.

Nnoitra snickered. "I don't mind. He'll find out soon enough, won't you baby boy?" he said and lapped his tongue against his lips again.

Ichigo moved back against the back side of the cell again and stared at him. "L-leave me alone," he said, another shudder wracking his body.

"I will, baby boy. I will. For now. But once boss man comes and tells me you're all mine, you're all mine, sweetie. And you will be my special boy, in every way I can imagine. And I've got a hella imagination…" he said and turned and left, leaving Ichigo to slide down the bars to the floor. He pulled his knees into his chest again.

"Ichigo, don't let him get to you," Rukia said from beside him. "He won't give you over to him, surely, what purpose would it serve?"

Ichigo shook his head and hoped she was right. Those beady black eyes were something he didn't like, and that leering grin left him cold inside. He had little doubt the man would follow through on those threats. But Rukia said it. Aizen had him because he wanted his dad and Urahara to do what he wanted. So that meant he had to be kept healthy and unhurt, otherwise, his dad and Uncle Kisuke wouldn't listen. He nodded and knew that had to be right.

Ichigo was wrong, though, very wrong, and he soon found out exactly how wrong he was. Judging by the meals, it had been almost seven weeks when Aizen himself came down the stairs. The room had filled up since Ichigo and Rukia had come into it. In fact, it seemed that all twelve of the small cells were full now. Ichigo and Rukia were on the right side, followed by a blond girl named Loly, a dark haired girl named Menoly, a blonde boy named Tesla, and a redheaded man named Renji that seemed to know Rukia. On the other side, there were the other six. There was a slight young man named Hanataro, another short but loud dark haired boy named Ggio, a tall blonde named Findorr, a young blonde boy named Di Roy, a short boy with pure white hair named Toshiro that didn't really talk much, and finally in the last cell across from Ichigo was a dark haired guy named Shuuhei.

All twelve of them were being kept for some reason, and none of them had a lot of information. Some of them, like Rukia, Renji, Toshiro, Hanataro, and Shuuhei were all connected to law enforcement, politcal figures, in other words, mostly relatives of prominent people. Some of the others, like Ggio, Tesla, Findorr, Loly and Menoly were witnesses to gang activity. No one had quite figured out why Di Roy was there, and for some reason, he didn't seem to care, claiming he had food and a bed, so he was quite happy. Granted, the beds weren't much, and the food mostly consisted of rice balls, water and occasional unidentified meat.

Aizen sauntered down the rows. "Seems we've reached capacity," he said, and Ichigo saw the blue haired one, Grimmjow was his name he'd found out, was following him, as was Nnoitra and an older darker skinned man. "Take your pick, Barragan, Grimmjow, Nnoitra. The ones with the star on the door are free to you to have if you want them. Otherwise, I'm having Ulquiorra execute them in the morning. Ichigo stood up and stared, seeing that all those that were witnesses and Di Roy had a star marked on the front of the cell in marker. When had that happened, he thought…

Barragan approached Ggio and spoke to him for a while, while Nnoitra spoke through the bars to Tesla. Grimmjow went over to Di Roy and smirked. He opened the door and let him out and led him up the stairs. Barragan let Ggio out and then talked to Findorr for a minute, then took him off up the stairs as well. Nnoitra let Tesla out and then went to Loly and then Menoly's cells, each one let out and following Nnoitra out of the basement. The two girls looked somewhat frightened of Nnoitra but who wouldn't be?

Aizen then turned to those that remained. "Now, my, aren't you a nice, quiet bunch?"

The door opened and closed and a dark haired man with very pale skin and bright green eyes came down and stood beside him followed by a tall and quite buxom blonde woman. Aizen turned to the woman.

"Harribel, have you received the payment for Mr. Hitsugaya and Mr. Hisagi?" he asked.

"We have sir," she said with a nod. "We have also confirmed that Kuchiki has been dropped from the Las Noches case, and Urahara has disappeared off the grid along with the Kurosakis."

Ichigo's hands tightened around the bars at the mention of his family but he didn't say anything. More than once he'd had his knuckles wacked for speaking. It was like being in elementary. He supposed they had to be kept intact since they were being used as leverage over their families, though. Beating them to death wouldn't keep them in line.

"Good, good. Ulquiorra, please take Zommari and Grimmjow, deliver Mr. Hitsugaya and Mr. Hisagi to their families at the appointed time tonight. Harribel, if you would take Mr. Abarai and Ms. Kuchiki and deposit them on her brother's doorstep tied up nicely. Perhaps next time he decides to get into my affairs he'll remember vividly about what I can do with his lover and his sister," he said with a smirk.

Rukia glanced at Ichigo and down at Hanataro as Aizen turned to leave. "What about them?" she called.

Aizen turned back and glanced at the two he hadn't mentioned. "Ah yes, Kurosaki. And the Yamada child. Return the Yamada boy, as well, Ulquiorra. We're going to clear out of this building in the morning. As far Kurosaki…" Aizen paused.

Ulquiorra looked up. "Did you not promise to give him to Nnoitra when you confirmed his family was off grid?"

Aizen smiled. "Ah yes, that's right. I forgot. Poor Nnoitra, I believe he must have believed I forgot that promise…have him retrieve the boy."

"What, you can't do that! Let him go too!" Rukia screamed. Aizen turned and grinned.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, his uncle knows far too much, and I'm a bit sentimental, so I just can't bring myself to murder my half-brother and very best friend growing up. So as long as I have him," he said, gesturing to Ichigo's frozen form. "I have nothing to fear from my half-brother."

"You can't give him to Nnoitra! You…you know…!" she was already starting to cry.

Aizen smiled. "He'll hurt him? I'm certain of it. He won't kill him, I told him that was all I cared about. He has to be alive. Now, what shape he's in, that doesn't matter. I'm certain Nnoitra will have less of a problem…ah…fucking his merchandise if he has a permanent playmate. He does have a tendency to cost me money by damaging the goods he's supposed to sell…so this is the best solution."

Aizen turned and headed up the stairs again, leaving a silence on the room. Rukia grabbed the bars. "Ichigo, I'll get my brother to help you, I promise, I will! He's a cop, he's…"

The door opened then and Nnoitra practically skipped down the stairs. "Oh, boy, I thought the boss forgot," he said happily, and Ichigo's eyes went wide to see that he had a collar in his hands and a chain. "But no, he remembered, thanks Ulquiorra!"

Ichigo moved as far back into the cell as he could get, swallowing against the rising bile in his throat. This was not going to happen. No way, no how. He shook his head. "No, get back!" he said in a low voice.

Nnoitra opened the door. "You're gonna be a good baby boy and let me put this on you and then you're going to follow me like the good little boy you are."

Ichigo was not going to take this easily. He reached into the waistband of his pants and pulled out a shiv he'd made. A few weeks before, he'd managed to sliver off a small piece of the wooden leg of the cot. It wasn't much, but he figured that if he could use it to stab whoever opened the cell in the eye or throat he could get past them and maybe, just maybe, get out the door. His fingers gripped the piece of wood. Honestly, he was doubting his sanity at this idea. It wasn't a terrible lot more than a big splinter. Still, he had to try, even if it earned him a real beating. If he didn't escape, he was pretty damn sure a beating was going to be the least of his worries.

When Nnoitra had come in far enough he lunged forward with as much strength as he could muster and drove the piece of wood into his left eye as far as he could. Nnoitra screamed and blood sputtered everywhere. Ichigo gasped and dropped to his knees and scurried under the man struggling with the wood embedded in his eye and was out the door and to the bottom of the stairs in a second. He sobbed out loud when the door opened and he was looking up at Grimmjow who was frowning. Ichigo sucked in a breath and felt something heavy hit the back of his head. He dropped to his knees, the world wavering sickly in front of his eyes.

"Fucking bastard!" screamed Nnoitra's voice behind him. Grimmjow laughed at the top of the stairs.

"Well, he got you before you got him, Gilga," Grimmjow commented.

"Fuck you, Grimmjow, shit, I think the fucker put out my goddamned eye! Go get fucking Szayel!" he yelled. Grimmjow, still laughing, left. Ichigo felt something clamp tightly around his neck, making him feel even more lightheaded than he already was. His hands were yanked behind him and he felt the roughness of ropes tightening around his wrists. He swayed a bit and fell forward with Nnoitra pushed him, and then yelled when he landed a blow in his ribcage with his foot.

The world was hazy by he saw someone with pink hair come down the stair. "Dammit, Nnoi, fuck, yeah, eye's done, man, sorry."

"Fuck!" Nnoitra screamed and yanked Ichigo up from the floor by the collar. "Look at this you little fucker," he said, pointing to the mangled remains of his eye. "You're gonna pay for this. A lot. To think, I was gonna be nice to ya, mostly. Now you went and fucked up, you little fuckin' bastard. You are going to fuckin' live in pain for this shit. I can't kill you, but I can fuckin' make you wish you were dead with every breath you take!" Ichigo swallowed, the world fading out from lack of oxygen and the head wound. He hoped that he was dying. He wasn't.

When Ichigo woke next, he was in pain. Of course he was in pain, what did he expect? He knew it was risky, maybe he should have gone for the guy's throat instead of his eye…but it wouldn't have mattered. There were too many of them. He let the world come into focus and he realized he was on something softer than the floor, which was probably a good thing, because it felt like Nnoitra had beaten his body while he was unconscious. There was a dull throbbing in his sides and his head was on fire. He groaned and moved a little, and realized he was bound up tighter than he had been. He looked up and saw a chain leading from the collar on his neck to something…a ring, a big metal ring in…a headboard. He was on a bed.

Oh shit, he thought to himself, turning his head from side to side. He was on a bed. Nnoitra's comments all came back at once. He struggled but he couldn't get his hands free. He realized his hands were bound to his thighs. There was some sort of band across the top of each thigh, like a belt, and somehow his wrists were connected to the side of each one. It felt like there was a cuff or something on each of his wrists and on his ankles too. He was lying on his stomach and felt like his left ankle at least was secured to something, but he couldn't see since there was a sheet lying over him. He was close to freaking out until he heard a door open and close and his breath caught.

"Ah, my pretty baby boy," came Nnoitra's voice. Ichigo turned his head and saw that he had a bandage taped in place over his left eye. "You are going to be punished, baby. So much. And I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

"P-please, don't….I…I'm sorry…I didn't…" Ichigo stammered as the sheet was yanked off of his body. He had felt he must be naked under it and now he was sure of it. He bit down on his lip. Strength, he told himself. He could get through this. It was only pain. Right?

He was terribly, horribly wrong. He heard something and then jerked as a sharp pain lanced through his back. It whistled as it went through the air and hit his back again. His breathing sped up. Nnoitra moved around where he could see him and Ichigo could see he had a horse riding crop in his hand. Ichigo shook his head and struggled against the bonds holding his hands in place to no avail.

"Tsk, tsk, baby you are such a bad boy. I can't reward you until I punish you," he said and laid into his back, buttocks, and the back of his thighs until Ichigo couldn't take it and screamed, sobbing into the bed, tears soaking the sheets.

He felt Nnoitra's hands in his hair and then his head was yanked painfully upward against the chain. "Don't fucking cry."

Ichigo tried desperately to control it, but he couldn't and then Nnoitra was laying burning swats across the back of his arms and his calves. "I'm sorry! Sorry!" he gasped out, finally.

Nnoitra grinned and laid down the crop. "Good. Always be sorry for fucking tears. They're useless and only make me angry, you little bitch. You deserve this, every goddamned ounce of pain I give you, you will accept and fucking thank me for, do you understand?" he said, yanking his head up by the hair again.

Ichigo swallowed and nodded. "Good, then what do you say, baby?"

Ichigo's mouth worked and he knew what he wanted and he didn't want to say it, but the pain on his neck and the burning across his body was pleading with him to do whatever it was he wanted. It was only words, right? Just saying what the sadistic fucker wanted wouldn't hurt. How could it?

"Th-thank…you…" he whispered, panting against the rising lightheadedness that was overcoming him from the awkward position.

"Good start, baby," he said and dropped his head. Ichigo laid there panting and then felt the bed move as Nnoitra sat down beside him. He crossed his lanky legs and pulled out a cigarette and took a long drag.

Ichigo was quiet despite the fact he was in more pain than he remembered being in before. Even when he'd gotten into fights, he didn't remember hurting this much in so many places. He almost let out a sob again but it came out a low whimper. Nnoitra turned to him and patted him on the head.

"There now, was that so bad? I'm sure you thought it was. But this is just the beginning. I'm not near done punishing you for this," he said, pointing to the bandaged eye. "No, not nearly done."

Ichigo wasn't sure how much of this he could stand without losing his damn mind. Then Nnoitra got up and rummaged in a draw he couldn't see and then came back to the bed holding something that looked like a plastic gun. Ichigo blinked and realized it was a piercing gun. Nnoitra looked it over.

"New hobby of mine," he said, and gestured to the several rings in his ear. "So let's have some fun."

Nnoitra sat back a few minutes later after putting six rings up the outside of Ichigo's left ear. Ichigo was not keen on this because it hurt and now his ear felt like it was on fire. Nnoitra smiled. "That's a good start. Now, for the eyebrow…" he said, reaching over and pulling out a curved needle.

"What…no, stop!" he started to pull his head away but there was a clink and the chain on his throat pulled tight leaving him gasping.

"Stay still, or I might put your eye out to match mine," Nnoitra said with a smirk.

What felt like an eternity passed and finally Nnoitra was putting away his stuff. Ichigo had blood dripping down the left side of his face now from the four rings he'd put across his brow. It hurt too. Ichigo wasn't sure what hurt worse, the ear, his eyebrow, or the burning welts and cuts on his back.

Ichigo heard a clink and his foot was released. If he'd felt stronger he might have tried to kick the bastard. But no, he just laid there. Then, he gripped his hips and flipped him, but the chain on his collar was still secured at his throat, which twisted his head to the side with a whine of pain at the pressure on his neck. He was shoved upward so he could lay his head back flat now. His back was screaming in pain, leaving him panting. However, now he was exposed completely to Nnoitra, hands still clamped to the bands on his thighs.

"You are too pretty, you know?" Nnoitra said, and ran a hand down from Ichigo's collar to the nest of orange between his legs. Ichigo jerked at the light touch, pressing his legs together.

"Nah, no hiding, pretty baby. Here, we'll fix that," Nnoitra said, and grabbed his ankles and pushed them upward until he heard and felt a click on the underside of his thigh. His eyes went wide and he looked to realize his hands were hooked to the outside of the thigh strap, and now his ankles had been hooked to another clamp on the strap. If he were sitting up instead of on his back, he would have been bound on his knees, seated on his heels.

"Much better," Nnoitra said, eyes roving over Ichigo's now exposed body.

"It hurts," he said finally, the muscles in his thighs and calves straining with the odd position. Nnoitra smiled and adjusted him so his feet were flat on the bed. It didn't help much.

"You'll get used to it, baby, promise," he said and leaned down and began licking at the inside of his thighs. Ichigo gasped at the intimate contact.

"What…what…are you doing?" he said.

"It isn't any fun unless I make you come too, babe. Whether you want to or not," he said with a grin.

Ichigo couldn't go anywhere, he could barely move at all in the position he was in so when Nnoitra's wicked tongue began to wake his arousal. He fought it, but Nnoitra was insistent, tongue following every dip and crevice of his body, all the way down to the entrance of his body. He jumped when Nnoitra's tongue swirled around the puckered entrance and then worked inside. He hummed against him and Ichigo's body jolted.

"Hrm, so sensitive," Nnoitra said with a smile.

"Please, no," he said, tears starting to fall again.

"What did I say about tears?" Nnoitra said, moving upward and leaning over him. Ichigo shook his head.

"I'm sorry, sorry, sorry!" he whimpered, but unable to stop completely.

Nnoitra reached a hand down and forced a finger inside him then and his eyes widened and he stared up at him, tears still streaming from his eyes. Nnoitra shook his head and continued working his fingers into him until he was three deep and searching…aha, he thought as Ichigo's body lurched as he brushed the bundle of nerves he was looking for. He grinned and removed his fingers and slid his body up and pressed against him with his own weeping cock. He looked down to see that the orange at was still crying and muttering "sorry" every once in a while and he smiled to himself.

He forced his way in with one thrust, getting a pain filled scream out of him. Nnoitra felt something tear in him, but that was inevitable. He was a big man, after all, in more than one way. He grinned as he moved inside him slowly, making sure to brush his prostate when he could and feeling the boy's cock twitch despite the pain of him taking him roughly.

"Shh, that's it baby," Nnoitra said, leaning forward to kiss and suck on his neck. "Just let go, let me take care of you, baby," he said. Ichigo whimpered and continued to cry and mutter apologies for crying to him. "That's it," Nnoitra said, and began to stroke him in time to his rough, deep thrusts. "You'll learn to love it, baby boy," he whispered into his left ear before biting down on the fresh piercings. "You'll love the pain I give you, and you'll thank me for it, and you'll want more of it," he said as he sped his way to his own completion.

Finally, he stroked enough to send Ichigo over the edge and he groaned with his own release into the bound body. He watched as he cried again, sobbing in sheer embarrassment, Nnoitra was sure. He smiled and reached over and grabbed a thick plug from the box at the side of the bed. He pulled out and pushed in the plug quickly.

"Oh, there you go, baby, now you can keep me with you," he said into his ear. He reached into the box again and wrapped a rope around his waist and then around between his legs and cinched it up against the plug he'd seated inside him. "And that will make sure it doesn't come out before I come back. Now, you'll lie here, until I return, sweet love. Be a good boy," he said, patting the inside of his thigh and leaving him bound. He cried until he fell asleep. He remembered Nnoitra's threat that he wouldn't remember his own name when he was done. He was now completely sure that he wasn't exaggerating at all.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Zaraki woke to screaming. He came awake with a start and found he no longer had a lap full of Ichigo. He leaped up to find him in the corner of the room, hands over his head and sobbing uncontrollably, muttering, "Sorry, sorry, sorry," as he rocked back and forth.

The larger man went over and kneeled beside him and touched his back. Ichigo started violently and backed further into the corner and panted harshly staring at him with wide, tearful eyes. Zaraki wasn't sure what exactly to do with him.

"Ichigo, are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" he asked softly, as though he'd been awoken by his little sister's scream in the night and not some twenty two year old boy that had spent seven years being tortured by a sexual sadist.

"Not…baby," he said softly, eyes wide.

Zaraki frowned and shook his head, not following what he meant. "No…"

"Not baby boy," he said, and looked down at his wrists, which were deeply red but missing the cuffs he'd been wearing. "No, not baby boy."

"Is that what he called you?" Zaraki said, understanding what had happened.

He looked up and stared at him. Zaraki smiled and nodded to him and smiled. "Come here, Ichigo, come here," he said gently.

Ichigo gasped and buried his head in Zaraki's chest again, clinging to him. Zaraki picked him up easily enough and sat down on the bed with him, but he refused to remove his face from his chest. Zaraki just ran his hands over his back as he lay against him and sighed deeply. It was going to be a long road.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Zaraki felt someone shaking him awake and blinked to see Yachiru standing beside him. He looked at her with a smile. "Morning already?" he asked in a rough voice.

"Yeah, brother. I heard last night. He okay?" she asked, staring and the deeply sleeping body draped over Zaraki.

Zaraki shook his head. "I don't know, brat, I don't know."

Then, Ichigo lifted his head and looked up into Zaraki's face and blinked, yawning and squeaking when he did. Zaraki couldn't help it; he snickered when he did it. Ichigo blinked and looked at him and then laid his head back down on his chest.

"Want breakfast?" Kenpachi asked quietly to the top of the orange head.

He felt him nod and sigh against him. Zaraki frowned. This was certainly odd behavior considering what happened the night before. He didn't seem bothered by Yachiru anymore, and was extremely relaxed. Kenpachi looked at Yachiru who had noticed as well.

"Ichigo?" he asked and he looked up with wide brown eyes again and nodded, sliding off his lap and to the floor and watched them in utter silence. Kenpachi got up slowly and opened the door, and Ichigo followed him out down the hall to the dining room. Kenpachi sat down and Ichigo sat beside him, miming everything he was doing.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Kenpachi asked, looking at him. He shrugged.

Yumichika walked into the room and glanced at his boss. "Keni, what's wrong?" he said, then glanced to the boy beside him who was just staring at him.

"I don't know, he woke up screaming last night and now this morning, he's just acting weird. Ichigo, do you remember yesterday?" he asked.

Ichigo looked up and shook his head and smiled at Kenpachi. He leaned forward and rested his head against Kenpachi's arm. Yumichika moved closer.

"Ichigo, do you remember who you are?" he asked.

Ichigo shook his head and shrugged, sighing into Kenpachi's arm in a contented fashion. Yumichika stood up straight. "Oh…we might have a problem."


End file.
